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d'images  ndcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mdthode. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

.  2 

3 

4 

i 

« 

^*^ 


With  the  Compliments  of  the  Author 


Mr.  Henry  Harrisse  p 

No.  30  Rue  Cambac6r^s 

PARIS  I 


^^^1^ 


OF  THE 


Cabot  Quater-Centenary 


BY 


HENRY  HARRISSE 


(Reprinted  from  the  AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  REVIEW.) 


NEW  YORK 
October,  1898 


T 


4/ 


i* 


1/ 


The  Outcome 


jt 


OF  THE 


'1 


Cabot  Quater-Centenary 


BY 


HENRY  HARRISSE 


(Reprinted  from  the  AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  REVIEW.) 


NEW  YORK 
October,  1898 


\l 


THE  OUTCOME  OF  THE  CABOT  QUATER- 
CENTENARY 


It  cannot  be  said  that  the  foui -hundredth  anniversary  of  the  dis- 
covery of  the  American  continent  by  John  Cabot  was  celebrated 
with  as  much  enthusiasm  as  that  of  the  West  Indies  by  Columbus. 
A  good  test  is  the  number  of  historical  and  literary  productions 
published  on  those  two  occasions.  For  the  achievement  of  the 
great  Genoese,  we  know  of  six  hundred  and  fifty  books  and  pam- 
phlets printed  in  1891  and  1892,  in  nearly  all  the  languages  of 
Europe,  in  prose  and  verse.  Concerning  Cabot's  discovery,  we 
have  heard  of  only  two  or  three  volumes,  a  dozen  review  and  news- 
paper articles,  three  memoirs,  an  address,  four  speeches,  two  med- 
leys of  barefaced  plagiarism,  the  one  fabricated  in  Bristol,  the 
other,  quite  recently,  in  London,  and  no  poem  at  all.  The  in- 
difference of  the  public,  at  home  and  abroad,  was  further  shown  by 
the  utter  failure  of  the  subscription  which  Americans  residing  in 
England  started  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  a  plan  whereby  ade- 
quate notice  might  be  taken  of  the  event  in  Bristol.  Yet  John 
Cabot  is  certainly  more  to  the  people  of  England  and  of  the  United 
States  than  Christopher  Columbus  is  in  many  respects,  although  he 
cannot  be  justly  credited  with  greater  forecast  in  the  accomplishment 
of  his  famous  deed.  " 

Scanty  as  those  publications  may  be,  they  nevertheless  afford  a 
certain  interest.  Three  or  four  of  them  are  curious  on  different  ac- 
counts. One  shows  original  investigations,  and  although  based 
upon  positive  errors,  with  conclusions  quite  as  erroneous,  it  does 
credit  to  its  author.  Another  exhibits  honest  recantations,  indica- 
ting that  conscientious  historians  now  generally  adopt  notions  con- 
cerning the  Cabots,  particularly  Sebastian,  which  a  few  years  ago 
were  almost  hooted  at.  A  third  and  fourth  afford  fair  samples  of 
the  historical  erudition  of  distinguished  orators,  lay  and  clerical. 
We  only  propose  to  examine  the  questions  alleged  to  have  been 
solved  in  all  these  Cabotian  effusions,  and  especially  the  intrinsic 
worth  of  the  statements  brought  forward  to  bolster  delusions  re- 
garding the  memorable  transatlantic  voyage  of  1497. 


The  Outcome  of  the  Cabot  Qiiater-Centcnary 


I. 

Wc  first  notice  a  paper  of  Dr.  Samuel  Edward  Dawson  inserted 
in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Canada}  It  is  called  in 
that  country  "  an  admirable  monograph,  incomparably  the  best  thing 
ever  written  on  the  subject,  and  to  the  author  of  which  we  must  all 
doff  our  caps."  That  paper  is  also  represented,  in  certain  academic 
quarters,  "  to  have  settled  the  long-disputed  question  of  Cabot's 
landfall.  "2 

The  problem  has  been  mooted  by  Dr.  Dawson,  we  confess,  with 
skill  and  an  adequate  knowledge  of  the  subject.  To  us,  personally, 
it  is  a  positive  relief  to  see  at  last  a  critic  who  answers  facts,  argu- 
ments and  documents,  not  with  shallow  and  puerile  reasons,  betray- 
ing an  incredible  ignorance  of  the  matter,  as  is  so  often  the  case,  but 
by  resorting  to  objections  which  deserve  to  be  seriously  discussed, 
however  erroneous  they  may  prove  to  be  in  important  particulars. 

Dr.  Dawson  is  convinced  that  the  landfall  of  John  Cabot  in  1497 
is  the  easternmost  point  of  Cape  Breton  ;  and  he  has  endeavored  to 
prove  it  by  a  theory  of  his  own  concerning  the  magnetic  variations, 
at  first  as  follows  : 

"  If  Columbus  on  a  direct  western  course  dropped  tivo  hundred  and 
forty  miles  from  Gomera  his  point  of  departure  to  his  landfall  in  the 
Antilles  in  1492  with  a  variation  of  one  point  west,  it  is  altogether 
probable  that  John  Cabot  with  a  variation  of  a  point  and  a  half 
would  have  dropped,  in  1497,  three  hundred  and  sixty  miles  to  the 
south  on  his  tvestern  course  across  the  Atlantic  ;  and,  again,  if  John 
Cabot  laid  his  course  to  the  west  by  compass  from  latitude  53° 
north  the  variation,  so  much  greater  than  that  observed  by  Colum- 
bus, would  have  carried  him  clear  of  Cape  Race  and  to  the  next 
probable  landfall,  Cape  Breton."* 

If  language  means  anything,  it  is  plain  thai,  according  to  the 
above  extract.  Dr.  Dawson's  premises  were  Columbus's  course  from 
Gomera  and  Cabot's  course  from  latitude  53°  north.  It  likewise 
sets  forth  as  the  basis  for  measuring  the  length  of  the  line  of  diver- 
gence the  length  of  the  course  from  Gomera  to  Guanahani.  For 
what  can  be  clearer  than  the  phrase  which  we  underscore  ?  Nor  is 
the  wording  corrected  or  contradicted  anywhere  in  Dr.  Dawson's 
memoir. 

At  the  outset  it  must  be  said  that  even  admitting,  for  the  sake 
of  argument,  Dr.  Dawson's  hypothesis  that  John  Cabot  experienced 
a  magnetic  variation  of  a  point  and  a  half,  he  nevertheless  would 

J  Vol.  XII.,  Sec.  II.,  1894,  and  Vol.  II.,  Sec.  II.,  1896. 

«Dr.  Harvey's  remarks  in  op.  cit ,  1896,  Vol.  II.,  Sec.  II.,  p.  3. 

»0/.  cit.,  1894,  p.  58. 


//.  Harrisse 


not  have  dropped  three  hundred  and  sixty  miles,  as  Dr.  Dawson 
has  said  and  believed.  It  has  been  demonstrated  '  hy  a  ■\-  h  that 
Cabot  would  have  dropped  one  hundred  and  eif:;hty-three  miles 
only.  And,  consequently,  (always  as  a  logical  inference  from  Dr. 
Dawson's  theory,  such  as  we  find  it  explicitly  stated  in  the  said 
memoir),  instead  of  making  his  landfall  at  Cape  Breton,  as  our 
learned  opponent  asserts  or  asserted,  Cabot  would  have  made  it 
just  one  hinithrd  and  scvcnty-sn'cn  miles  more  to  tlie  nortlnoard ; 
that  is  to  say,  in  Newfoundland,  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Cape 
Bauld. 

So  much  for  "  incomparably  the  best  thing  ever  written  on  the 
subject,"  and  "the  settlement  of  the  long-disputed  question  of 
Cabot's  landfall  at  Cape  Breton,"  as  Canadian  savants  declare. 

That  was  four  years  ago.  Dr.  Dawson  now  holds  and  claims 
to  have  meant  that  in  measuring  the  length  of  the  line  of  divergence 
south  of  a  due  western  course,  "  we  must  commence  in  the  case  of 
Cabot  near  the  coast  of  Ireland,  and  in  the  case  of  Columbus  at  a  con- 
siderable distance  west  of  Gomera."^  That  is  a  new  proposition  al- 
together, and  absolutely  adverse  to  the  very  precise  expressions  em- 
ployed by  him  in  1894.  Under  the  circumstances,  it  is  surprising 
that  Dr.  Dawson,  as  the  expert  writer  that  he  is,  should  have  writ- 
ten so  clearly  "  If  Columbus  on  a  direct  western  course  dropped  240 
m\\c%  from  Goinera,"  instead  of  writing  as  he  does  at  this  late  hour, 
and  again  erroneously  as  we  propose  to  show  :  "  Columbus  dropped 
240  miles  from  the  place  where  the  westing  of  his  compass  reached 
one  point,"  or  "in  40°  longitude,"  or  "at  a  considerable  distance 
west  of  Gomera." 

Be  that  as  it  may.  Dr.  Dawson's  new  position  is  just  as  un- 
tenable as  the  first.  I^  again  rests  upon  an  aggregation  of  bare  hy- 
potheses.^ He  gratuitously  assumes  that  the  laws  of  secular  motion 
of  the  curves  of  equal  variation  on  the  surface  of  the-  globe  are  suf- 
ficiently known  to  enable  him  to  infer  from  the  variations  which 
Columbus  experienced  in  25°  north  latitude,  the  variations  which 
Cabot  experienced  in  53°  north  latitude.     He  also  takes  for  granted 

'  For  a  mathematical  demonstration  of  the  fallacy,  see  the  Nachrichten  von  dcr 
k'dnigl.  Geselhchaft  der  Wissenschajten  zti  Gottingen,  Philolog.-histor.  Klasse,  1897, 
Heft  3,  pp.  345-348- 

*  The  Voyages  of  the  Cabots.     Roy.  Soc.  Can.,  Vol.  III.,  Sec.  II.,  1897,  p.  161. 

'  "  In  a  brief  interview  I  had  with  Mr.  Fox,  I  took  occasion  to  express  my  convic 
tion  of  the  impossibility  of  arriving  at  any  very  definite  conclusion,  partly  on  account  of 
the  extremely  scanty  material  as  to  facts  and  partly  in  consequence  of  the  want  of  assist- 
ance derivab'e  from  purely  theoretical  grounds  ;  the  cause  of  the  phenomenon  of  the  sec- 
ular change  of  the  magnetic  declination  being  quite  unknown  and  the  time  comparatively 
short  during  which  to  trace  the  law  of  change  as  hitherto  observed. ' '  Qiarles  A.  Schott, 
An  Inquiry  into  the  Variation  of  the  Compass,  Coast  Survey  Reports  for  1880. 


The  Outcome  of  the  Cabot  Qiiater-Centcnary 


(theoretically)  that  the  variations  experienced  by  Cabot  cannot  pos- 
sibly have  been  inferior  or  superior  to  one  point  and  a  half  west,  or 
castvvardly,  or  nil  \  which  assumption,  whether  expressed  or  im- 
plied, is  entirely  unwarranted. 

The  learned  Canadian  likewise  arfjucs  as  if  we  were  as  well  posted 
ref^ardin^  the  particulars  of  Cabot's  voyage  as  we  are  concerning 
that  of  Ci>luinbus.  lie  forgets  that  we  know  nothing  whatever 
about  Cabot's  course,  beyond  the  naked  fact  that  he  sailed  west 
from  some  undetermined  point  on  the  western  coast  of  Ireland  and 
"wandered  a  good  deal  : — liavciido  assixi  crrato."  How  can  a  re- 
flective and  investigating  mind  build  upon  such  vague  data,  were  it 
partly  only,  the  asseveration  that  Cabot's  course  was  west  magnetic, 
and  that  the  corresponding  true  course  was  this  magnetic  course 
west,  corrected  by  one  point  and  a  half  of  variation  ? 

As  a  sort  of  apology,  Dr.  Dawson  at  present  inio.  ms  his  readers 
that  the  "increment  of  variation  was  not  intended  to  be,  and  could 
not  be,  an  argument  in  the  least  degree  amenable  to  mathematical 
treatment."  Why  then  did  he  take  it  as  the  basis  of  his  postulate, 
when  stating  that  John  Cabot  "  with  a  variation  of  one  point  and 
a  half  would  have  dropped  360  miles  to  the  south,"  or  that  if  the 
bold  navigator  "  laid  his  course  to  the  west  by  compass  from  lati- 
tude 53°  N.,  a  variation  of  one  point  and  a  half  would  have  carried 
him  clear  of  Cape  Race  ?"  Was  not  this  alleged  consequence  predi- 
cated upon  mathematical  treatment  ? 

Driven  away  from  this  position.  Dr.  Dawson  appeals  to  "the 
uniformity  of  the  laws  of  nature,  by  which  we  are  led  to  assume 
that  in  whatever  way  the  magnetic  pole  and  curves  of  variation  are 
shifting  now  they  were  shifting  then,  in  that  slow  change  which  is 
still  going  on  from  year  to  year." 

Dr.  Dawson  confuses  two  ver>'  distinct  things,  viz.  :  the  uni- 
formity of  the  laws  of  nature,  by  virtue  of  which  occur  around  us 
the  movements  which  we  observe,  and  the  uniformity  of  these 
movements.  Because  a  movement  is  produced  by  the  uniform  laws 
of  nature,  it  does  not  follow  that  this  movement  must  necessarily 
be  uniform.  In  nature,  on  the  contrary,  movements  are  exceed- 
ingly varied  ;  as  is  shown  constantly  in  astronomy,  natural  philo- 
sophy, and  all  the  sciences  in  which  movements  are  studied. 

It  is  therefore  inexact  and  unscientific,  from  beginning  to  end, 
to  maintain  that  the  magnetic  variation  at  Cape  Race  in  1497  can  be 
u°termined  from  the  fact  that  "it  is  at  present  30°  west,  and  that 
the  viriation  now  at  the  Admiral's  point  of  observation  in  1492,  is 
20°  west."  The  relative  positions  of  the  curves  of  equal  variation 
between  tht    coast  of  Ireland  and  Newfoundland  at  the  time  of 


//.  Harrisse 


Cabot  are  totally  unknown,'  and  cannot  be  therefore  declucec*  from 
their  actual  position.  We  have  only  to  examine  on  an  Admiralty 
chart  the  present  distribution  of  those  curves,  to  see  at  a  fjlance  that 
if  mentally  or  otherwise  we  move  the  network  or  entire  series  of 
them  (supposing,  for  the  experiment,  that  they  are  rigid  or  material) 
the  magnetic  curves  which  pass  over  any  portion  of  the  globe  ivill 
no  lony^cr  hear  to  each  other  the  relations  ivhich  they  had  before  we 
displaeeii  the  entire  set  of  said  curves,  in  the  manner  aforesaid.  Dr. 
Dawson  therefore  has  not  proved  and  cannot  prove  by  what  he 
calls  the  uniformity  of  the  laws  of  nature  that  "  Cabot  in  a  northern 
parallel  would,  of  necessity,  cross  the  magnetic  meridians  in  quicker 
succession,"  and  still  less  that  the  total  result  of  variation  experi- 
enced by  Cabot  between  Ireland  and  Newfoundland  was  "  a  point 
and  a  half." 

We  mu.st  now  revert  to  Dr.  Dawson's  new  specific  theory.  He 
says  that  "  from  the  sum  total  of  3  I  50  miles  [given  by  his  oppo- 
nent as  the  length  of  Columbus's  course  from  Gomera  to  Guanahani] 
mu.st  be  deducted  at  lea.st  672  miles,  leaving  a  di.stance  of  2478 
miles,-  because  [as  Dr.  Dawson  again  alleges]  it  was  not  until  he 
reached  the  longitude  of  40°  that  the  Admiral  noticed  a  variation 
of  a  full  point."  He  completes  his  postulate  with  the  further  asser- 
tion that  "  the  length  of  the  course  should  be  counted,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  this  argument,  from  the  point  where  the  disturbing  influence 
first  began  to  act." 

But  where  did  it  first  begin  to  act  ?  That  is  the  question.  All 
we  know  on  the  subject  is  comprised  within  these  few  words  of  Co- 
lumbus in  his  log-book  :  "  Jueves,  1 3  de  Sctiembre.  En  este  dia^ 
al  comienzo  de  la  noche,  las  agujas  noruesteaban,  y  a  la  manana 
noruestcaban  algun  tanto."  The  Admiral  does  not  state,  and  we 
have  no  means  whatever  of  knowing,  in  what  meridian  the  westing 
of  his  compasses  was  thus  noticed. 

'  Dr.  Dawson  in  support  of  his  aeory  refers  to  Reinel's  chart  of  1505  (monograph 
of  1898,  p.  161 )  which,  he  says,  "  shows  plainly  upon  it,  by  its  double  scale,  a  variation 
on  the  Newfoundland  coast  of  nearly  two  points."  That  will  be  news  to  the  student  of 
cartography.  It  is  true  that  in  one  of  the  scales  Cape  Race  has  the  latitude  of  '30%  °  N. , 
and  in  the  other  it  has  the  latitmlc  of  47°  N. ,  which  is  nearer  the  truth.  But  neither  the 
one  nor  the  other  has  anything  to  do  with  the  magnetic  variation.  The  oblique  scale  is 
merely  a  graphic  correction  of  an  original  error  in  the  perpendicular  one.  Kohl  ( Doc. 
Hist,  of  Maine,  p.  178)  and  Peschel  {Zeilalt.  iter  Entdeck.,  1858,  p.  332,  note  2),  both 
of  them  high  authorities,  who  describe  the  scale  on  the  chart,  would  not  have  failed  to 
notice  the  fact  if  they  had  ever  dreamt  that  magnetism  was  at  all  involved  in  the  matter. 
Supposing  even  that  one  or  the  other  of  these  scales  was  intended  to  show  a  variation 
(which  hypothesis  is  scarcely  admissible)  and  that  the  variation  was  exact,  it  would  apply 
only  to  the  east  coast  of  Newfoundland,  and  not  to  the  marine  space  between  Ireland  and 
Newfoundland  ;  the  totality  of  which  has  to  be  taken  into  account  in  a  computation  of  that 
sort. 

*By  Columbus's  course,  as  worked  out  by  Capt.  Fox,  the  distance  was  3105  miles  ; 
but  this  difference  of  45  miles  is  insignificant. 


6 


The  Outcome  of  the  Cabot  Qtiater-Centenary 


According  to  the  recent  map  produced  by  Dr.  Dawson  himself, 
the  agonic  Hnc  was  met  by  Columbus  in  the  meridian  of  about  30°. 
The  fact  that  he  noticed  the  westing  of  his  compasses  on  the  1 3th 
of  September*  does  not  prove  that  his  course  until  then  had  been 
constantly  due  west  from  Gomera  to  the  meridian  of  40°  longitude, 
adopted  by  Dr.  Dawson,  and  especially  between  30°  and  40°. 
This  he  is  bound  to  show  before  assuming  to  deduct  672  miles  from 
the  course.  Further,  what  we  know  of  the  matter  has  no  other 
basis  than  Capt.  Schott's  above-mentioned  conjectural  chart,  and, 
curious  to  say,  it  even  contradicts  Dr.  Dawson's  theory  in  a  most 
important  particular. 

We  see,  for  instance,  from  this  hypothetical  tracing  of  the  line 
of  no  variation  that  the  westing  of  Columbus's  compasses  com- 
menced near  30°  west,  and  went  on  increasing  until  40°,  when  the 
Admiral  noticed  that  the  variation  had  reached  one  full  point  west. 
From  40°  W.,  in  a  western  course,  it  could  but  continue  to  increase 
and  was  more  than  one  point  until  the  landfall  was  made  at  Guana- 
hani.  It  follows  that  if,  according  to  Dr.  Dawson's  new  theory, 
"the  length  of  the  course  should  be  counted  from  the  point  where 
the  disturbing  influence  first  began  to  act,"  we  must  count,  not  from 
40°,  as  Dr.  Dawson  now  maintains,  but  from  a  meridian  situated 
nine  or  ten  degrees  more  to  the  eastwards,  viz.:  in  the  longitude  of 
jo°  (in  round  figures). 

Even  with  the  minimum  length  (2433  miles)  assumed  by  him 
for  the  portion  of  the  course  which  alone,  he  now  says,  experienced 
the  variation  west,  we  find  for  a  linear  deviation  of  240  miles,  an  an- 
gular deviation  of  5°  38'.^  It  follows  that  if  with  a  variation  of  one 
point  west  (11°  15')  Columbus's  angular  deviation  was  5°  38', 
Cabot's  angular  deviation,  with  Dr.  Dawson's  alleged  variation  of 
one  point  and  a  half  (16°  52'  30"),  will  be  one-and-a-half  times 
5°  38',  or  8°  27'. 

And  now,  what  is  the  practical  outcome  of  all  these  technical 
demonstrations  ? 


'  It  is  well  to  recollect  that  we  do  not  possess  the  original  complete  text  of  Columbus's 
log-book.  We  only  have  an  abridgment  made  by  Bishop  Las  Casas,  and  even  this  was 
made  from  ,1  mere  copy,  now  lost. 

'We  kr\ow  that  '>  Dawson  does  not  like  logarithms  and  mathematical  proofs,  but 
they  cannot  well  be  avoided  at  this  present  juncture. 

Calling  r  the  angle  of  deviation  of  the  course  of  Columbus  from  the  true  direction 
east  and  west,  this  angle  j(  is  given  by  the  relation  tan  x  =  ^^^^j. 

Log       240=2.380211 

Colog  2433  =  4-613858 

Log   tan  jf=:  2.994069 


H.  Harfisse 


This  angular  deviation  of  8°  27'  corresponds  with  a  linear  devi- 
ation of  233  miles  south  of  the  parallel  of  53°  latitude  north,  in 
which  Cabot's  magnetic  course  is  supposed  to  have  lain.  Theo- 
retically, this  magnetic  course  amounted  exactly  to  162 1  miles,  Dr. 
Dawson  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.'  He  says  1740  miles. 
But  1740  miles  is  the  distance  fiom  the  Irish  coast  in  53°  latitude 
north,  to  Cape  Race,  and  the  learned  Canadian  is  simply  begging 
the  question  when  he  sets  forth  a  priori  this  distance  of  1740  miles 
before  having  first  proved  that  Cabot  actually  passed  close  to  Cape 
Race ;  which  is  the  gist  of  the  problem. 

Admitting  therefore  (still  for  the  sake  of  argument)  a  variation 
of  one  point  and  a  half  (16°  52'  30")  west  for  Cabot,  we  find  that 
the  angular  deviation  in  his  course  was  only  8°  27',  which,  as  above 
stated,  corresponds  with  a  linear  deviation  of  238  miles,^  instead  of 
360  miles  alleged  by  our  painstaking  opponent.  These  238  miles 
of  linear  deviation  would  fix  Cabot's  landfall  at  360—  238  =  122  miles 
more  to  the  northwards  than  the  landfall  which  Dr.  Dawson  strenu- 
ously advocates  ;  as  he  can  readily  ascertain  by  borrowing  "  the 
chart,  the  ruler  and  the  protractor"  of  a  highly  impartial  and  consid- 
erate Toronto  critic,  but  making  a  more  judicious  use  of  the  same. 

In  other  words,  the  landfall  of  Cabot,  which,  according  to  Dr. 
Dawson's  interpretation  of  i8g6,  was  at  Cape  Breton,  would  have 
been  (under  his  first  theory)  far  up  in  Newfoundland,  at  White  Bay. 
The  landfall  which,  according  to  his  interpretation  of  1898,  was 
also  at  Cape  Breton,  would  have  been  (under  his  latest  theory)  in 
a  very  different  place,  viz. :  in  the  Bay  of  Bonavista. 

Withal,  we  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  to  say  that  the  land- 
fall was  at  Bonavista  rather  than  at  Cape  Breton,  or  anywhere  else. 
Our  sole  object  has  been  to  prove  that  on  this  point  Dr.  Dawson 
erred  as  much  in  1898  as  he  did  in  1894  and  1896.  As  to  our 
private  opinion,  it  is  that  we  do  not  know  and  apparently  never  shall 
know  where  John  Cabot  first  sighted  the  New  World. 

II. 

So  recently  as  1893,  Sir  Clements  Markham,  the  distinguished 

'  The  magnetic  course  is  the  only  one  that  should  be  taken  into  account  in  the  com- 
putation of  the  linear  deviation  in  Cabot's  real  course,  as  being  the  only  length  knmvn,  in 
concurrence  with  the  tangent  of  the  angle  of  deviation  ;  and  no  mathematician  will  gain- 
say this. 

'Calling  X  Cabot's  linear  deviation,  the  deviation  is  given  by  the  relation 

X  =  i6oo  X  tan  8°  27'. 
Log  tan  8°  2^'  =  i. 71899 
l,og  i6cx>  =  3.204120 
Log  jf  =  2.376019 
j:=237  miles  7. 


w 


8  T/ie  Otiicome  of  the  Cabot  Qtiaicr- Centenary 

President  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  maintained  as  regards 
Cabot's  landfall  the  following  opinion  •} 

"  The  great  value  of  the  1 544  map  of  Sebastian  Cabot  is  that  it 
fixes  the  landfall  of  his  father's  first  voyage  ;  that  on  this  point  he 
is  the  highest  authority,  and  that  his  evidence  is  quite  conclusive,  if  it 
was  given  in  good  faith  "  (p.  xxxiii.). 

Sir  Clements  reached  the  climax  as  follows  : 

"  As  Sebastian  Cabot  had  no  motive  for  falsifying  his  map  he  did 
not  do  so,  and  the  '  Prima  Vista '  [/.  e.,  Cape  Breton]  where  he 
placed  it,  is  the  true  landfall  of  John  Cabot  on  his  first  voyage''  (p. 
xxxiv.). 

In  reply,  among  other  cogent  reasons,  it  was  urged  that  Seuas- 
tian  did  have  motives  for  falsifying  his  rnap ;  that  is,  in  placing  in 
1 544  the  landfall  at  Cape  Breton,  after  having  constantly,  for  thirty 
years  previous,  caused  it  to  be  inscribed  in  Labrador.  These 
motives  were  that  the  explorations  of  Jacques  Cartier  had  brought 
to  notice  a  valuable  region  which  France,  then  at  war  with  England, 
was  attempting  to  colonize ;  that  Sebastian  Cabot,  to  advance  his 
own  interest,  was  always  engaged  in  plotting^  and  corresponding  in 
secret  with  foreign  rulers  ;  that  so  early  as  I5.'i8,  he  was  intriguing 
with  the  English  ambassador  in  Spain  to  be  employed  by  Henry 
VIII.  ;  that  his  cartographical  statements,  as  embodied  in  the  i  544 
map,  may  well  have  been  a  suggestion  of  British  claims  and  a  b'd 
for  the  King  of  luigland's  favor,  considering  that  to  plape  the  land- 
fall near  the  gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  was  tantamount  to  declaring 
Cape  Breton  and  Newfoundland  (instead  of  bleak  and  worthless 
Labrador)  to  be  Elnglish  territory ;  and  that  in  fact,  a  couple  of 
years  afterwards,  he  removed  to  England,  where  His  Majesty  pen- 
sioned and  employed  him.  These  reasons,  which  we  innocently 
believed  to  be  worth  listening  to,  were  unceremoniously  dismissed 
by  Sir  Clements  Markham  as  being  "quite  inadequate,"  and  with- 
out his  taking  the  trouble,  as,  under  the  circumstances,  he  should 
have  done,  to  explain  the  cartographical  change  brought  about  by 
Sebastian  Cabot.  In  consequence,  the  positive  belief  of  Sir  Clem- 
ents that  Cape  Breton  Island  was  Cabot's  landfall  remained,  for  the 
time  being,  unshaken. 

The  eminent  geographer  also  maintained  the  following  asser- 
tion : 

"  Cabot  after  a  voyage  of  fifty  days  reached  land  at  five  o'clock 
in  the  morning  of  Saturday^  tlie  2^th  of  June,  being  St.  John's 
Day"  (p.  XV.). 


'  The  Journal  of  Christopher  Columbus,  Hakluyt  Society  Public.   No.  LXJ'.XVI., 


1893. 


V 


//.  Harrisse 


;ards 


in 


As  regards  the  participation  of  Sebastian  Cabot  in  that  memor- 
able expedition,  which  had  been  the  object  of  grave  doubts,  Sir 
Clements  expressed  this  opinion  : 

"  On  the  whole  it  seems  most  probable  that  John  Cabot  did  take 
his  young  son  [/.  e.,  Sebastian]  with  him"  (p.  xxiv.). 

We  are  now  made  to  witness  a  sudden  revolution  of  opinions 
on  these  important  points  of  maritime  history. 

In  a  paper  read  at  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  April  12, 
1897,'  Sir  Clements  Markham  frankly  acknowledges  that  "  some 
of  his  views  [on  the  subject  of  the  Cabots]  have  bren  modified." 

This  time  (employing  the  saine  argument  which  had  been  ad- 
vanced five  years  ago  to  batter  down  his  advocacy  of  the  landfall  at 
Cape  Breton,  viz.  :  the  brief  account  which  John  Cabot  himself 
gave  to  Raimondo  di  Soncino  of  his  voyage),  Sir  Clements  Mark- 
ham  throws  overboard  both  tht  Cabotian  planisphere  and  the  Prima 
Vista  at  that  very  Cape  Breton.  It  should  also  be  noticed  that  with 
Dr.  Dawson's  chief  argument  for  proving  that  Cape  Breton  was  the 
real  landfall,  Sir  Clements  reaches  an  entirely  different  conclusion : 

"  The  same  amount  ''i  southing,"  says  he,  "  caused  by  the  varia- 
tion of  the  compass  whicn  took  Columbus  to  Guanahani  would  have 
taken  Cabot  to  Bonavista  bay,  and  taking  Soncino's  account  of  the 
voyage  by  itself,  there  can  b:  no  question  that  Bonavista  bay,  on  the 
east  coast  of  Newfoundland,  ivas  the  landfall"  (p.  608). 

Unfortunately,  Sir  Clements  neglects  to  initiate  us  into  the  ar- 
cana of  his  computations.  It  would  have  pioved  interesting  to 
subject  them  to  the  same  experimentum  cnicis  as  Dr.  Dawson's. 
Meanwhile  the  change  of  front  from  Cape  Breton  to  Bonavista  is 
already  a  point  gained.  Further  on  it  will  be  shown  what  we  are 
to  think  of  this  new  landfall. 

As  to  the  date.  Sir  Clements  is  no  longer  so  positive  :  "  It  was 
not  necessarily  on  June  24th,"  he  now  says  (p.  610).  With  regard 
to  his  previous  opinion  that  ^' most  probably  Sebastian  Cabot  joined 
the  expedition  of  1497,  Sir  Clements  at  present  rejects  it  altogether. 
"  Stuustian"  says  he,  "  zvas  not  himself  on  board  the  Matthexv  ;'' 
adding  even  :  "  and  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  he  accompanied  his 
father  on  cither  of  his  voyages  "  (p.  612). 

These  departures  from  opinions  formerly  held  and  energetically 
defended  by  the  eminent  geographer  deserve  to  be  noted,  particu- 
larly in  connection  with  a  recantation  of  the  same  kind  which  stands 
to  the  credit  of  Dr.  Dawson.  For  instance,  this  savant  has  found 
fault  with  one  of  Cabot's  biographers  who,  he  says  (most  erroneously 
however)  after  fixing  the  landfall  at  Cape  Breton,  wrote  ten  years 

'  The  Geographical  Jourtial,  London,  June,  1897. 


I  o  The  Outcome  of  the  Cabot  Quater-  Centenary 

afterwards  in  favor  of  the  coast  of  Labrador.  Yet,  himself,  after 
believing  the  landfall  to  have  been  in  Newfoundland,'  he  now  places 
it  at  Cape  Breton. 

So  far  from  blaming  such  changes  of  view,  in  this  or  any  other 
historical  investigation,  on  the  part  of  Dr.  Dawson,  or  on  the  part 
of  Sir  Clements  Markham,  we  consider  that  they  bespeak  the  true 
.spirit  of  experienced  and  loyal  historians.  He  is  indeed  a  very  poor 
student  of  history  who  imagines  that  the  book  he  writes  embodies 
the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  for  all  times  to 
come.  Even  if  every  source  of  information  had  been  exhausted, 
there  would  still  remain  the  parallel  evolution  of  kindred  sciences 
and  the  faculty  to  appreciate,  which,  it  is  almost  a  truism  to  say, 
becomes  keener  and  keener  through  constant  exercise  and  a  more 
thorough  knowledgv.  of  the  facts.  "  L'  Histoire  est  une  enquete 
perpetuelle."  Only  the  wiseacres  whose  method  and  profound 
learning  consist  exclusively  in  collecting,  as  with  a  spoon,  so  to 
speak,  the  footnotes  and  statements  of  others,  think  otherwise. 

III. 

Dr.  Dawson,  after  publishing  his  interesting  monograph  of  1894, 
wrote  another,^  not  less  elaborate,  which  may  be  called  an  attempt 
at  elucidating  the  first,  and  wherein  new  Cabotian  theories  are  ad- 
vanced. One  of  these  concerns  the  fact  that  after  causing  during 
thirty  years  the  landfall  to  be  marked  in  Labrador  or  Greenland, 
Sebastian  Cabot  removed  it  to  Cape  Breton.  The  question  involves, 
besides,  a  point  of  capital  interest  concerning  the  cartographical 
history  of  America.      Dr.  Dawson  disposes  of  it  as  follows  : 

"  Sebastian  Cabot  was  not  in  truth  English  born,  and  had  no 
patriotic  obligation  to  guard  English  interests.  Therefore,  when  he 
was  made  grand  pilot  of  Spain,  and  head  of  the  department  of  car- 
tography at  Seville,  he  quietly  acquiesced  in  the  suppression  on  the 
maps  he  supervised  of  all  traces  of  his  father's  voyage  and  his 
father's  discoveries  for  England.  .  .  Cabot  was  well  recompensed 
by  the  King  of  Spain  for  the  use  of  that  knowledge  of  the  Bacca- 
laos,  which  he  above  others  possessed  ;  and  that  knowledge,  under- 
rated and  even  despised  in  England,  was  suppressed  upon  the 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  maps.  That  is  the  answer  to  the  question  : 
Why,  if  Cabot's  landfall  had  been  really  at  Cape  Breton  in  Bacca- 

'  "  For  many  years,  under  the  influence  of  current  traditions  and  cursory  reading,  1 
believed  the  landfall  of  John  Cabot  to  have  been  in  Newfoundland."-  Dr.  Dawson  in 
Trans.  Royal  Soc.  Can.  for  1894,  p.  55. 

*  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Canada  relative  to  a  Cabot  celebration  in  i8gb, 
Vol.  II.,  Sec.  II.  ;  and  The  Voyages  of  the  Cabots ;  Latest  Phases  of  the  Controversy,  N. 
S.,  Vol.  III.,  Sec.  II.,  1897. 


I  :  ! 


H.  Harrisse 


II 


Irios,  did  he  not  record  it  upon  the  maps  he  supervised  while  grand 
pilot  of  Spain?"  (monograph  of  1894,  p.  84). 

This  alleged  suppression  of  maps  is  a  pure  invention.  Tho 
English  discoveries  were  so  little  suppressed  in  the  Spanish  maps, 
that  all  we  know  about  them  cartographically  is  to  be  found  exclu- 
sively in  Spanish  maps  of  the  time  and  in  contemporaneous  copies 
of  them.  First,  before  Cabot  came  to  Spain,  in  La  Cosa's  plani- 
sphere (i  500),  which  delineates  the  "  Mar  dcsaibierta  par  inglescJ' 
Then,  while  Sebastian  Cabot  held  the  office  of  pilot  major  of  Spain, 
in  the  mappcmonde  sent  from  Seville  by  Robert  Thorne  (1527), 
where  we  read  :  "  Terra  luc  ab  Aiiglis  priinum  fiat  inventa."  After- 
wards, in  the  VVei-.nar  Ribeiro  ( l  5  29),  bearing  t!  e  inscription  :  "  Esta 
ticrra  dcscubricron  los  Itiglcscs,"  and  in  the  Propaganda  map  (i  529), 
which  inserts  the  legend:  "  laqual  dcscubrieron  los  Inglescs  de  la 
villa  de  Bristol,''  a  statement  also  inscribed  in  the  Wolfenbiittel  map- 
pemonde  [circa  1530),  all  of  which  are  maps  openly  made  in  Se- 
ville, most  of  them  while  Charles  V.  sat  upon  the  throne  and  by  his 
own  chart-makers. 

If  Dr.  Dawson's  theory  is  sound,  let  him  say  why  the  Spanish 
royal  cartographers  should  have  inscribed  the  English  discoveries 
in  official  charts  at  all  ?  On  the  other  hand,  at  that  time,  or  at  any 
time,  what  difference  could  it  make  to  Spain  to  place  the  English 
discoveries  in  Greenland  or  in  Labrador  rather  than  at  Cape  Breton, 
if  the  latter  was  the  true  place  ?  Neither  the  one  nor  the  other  be- 
longed to  her.  Ever  since  1494  those  three  countries  had  been  re- 
linquished by  Spain  in  favor  of  Portugal,  officially  and  forever.  We 
still  possess  two  original  maps^  based  upon  the  Royal  Pattern 
{Padron  real)  and  endorsed  by  cosmographers  of  Charles  V.  The 
one,  dated  1527,  states  that  it  contains  all  that  which  was  discovered 
up  to  date  :  "todolo  que  del  Mundosc  a  descubierto  fasta  aora.''  The 
other,  dated  i  529,  adds  to  this  statement  the  following  words  :  "  ac- 
cording to  the  treaty  which  was  entered  into  by  the  Catholic  Sover- 
eigns of  Spain  and  King  John  of  Portugal  at  Tordesillas  in  1494: 
"  conforme  a  la  capitnlacion  que  hizieron  los  Catholicos  Reyes  de  Espana 
y  el  Rey  don  Juan  de  Portugal  en  Tordesillas  ano  de  14^4,''  and  both 
are  signed  by  a  "  Costnographo  de  Su  Magestad." 

These  authentic  maps  trace  the  line  of  demarcation  between 
Spain  and  Portugal,  marking  with  a  Spanish  flag  the  region  within 
which  westwardly  the  one  could  accomplish  maritime  discoveries, 
and  with  a  Portuguese  standard  the  region  allotted  eastwardly 
to  the  other  for  the  same  purpose.^     Now,  that  line  in  those,  and 

•  Kohl,  Die  beiden  Sltesten  General- Karten  von  Amerika,  Weimar,  i860,  folio. 
'  Alleged  Partition  of  the    Globe,   in  The  Diplomatic  History  of  America^  its  first 
chapter,  i4S2-r4gj-i4g4.,  London,  1897,  pp.  74-77. 


12  The  Outcome  of  the  Cabot  Qiiater-Centenary 

in  fact  in  all  the  Spanish  maps  of  the  sixteenth  century,  is  maue  to 
pass  through  the  longitude  of  Halifax,  ascribing  therefore  the  greatest 
part  of  Nova  Scotia,  the  whole  of  Cape  Breton  Island  and  of  New- 
foundland, as  well  as  the  east  coast  of  Labrador,  to  Portugal  exclu- 
sively. 

It  is  plain  to  any  unbiassed  mind  tbat  under  the  circumstances 
Spain  had  no  interest  whatever  in  making  a  mystery  of  the  geo- 
graphical configuration  of  the  Atlantic  borders  north  of  the  Caro- 
linas  ;  particularly  as  the  Tierra  de  Ayllon,  in  about  35"  latitude, 
was  the  extreme  limit  of  what  she  claimed  as  her  own,  or  attempted 
to  coloni/.e  in  that  region. 

Nor  were  ihe  discoveries  accomplished  by  the  English  a  secret 
for  any  one.  If  the  country  discovered  by  them  was  Cape  Breton, 
how  is  it  that  all  the  old  maps  and  mappemondes  name  that  region, 
not  Tierra  dc  los  Inglcscs,  but  Tierra  de  los  Bretones,  and  even,  in 
unmistakable  language,  Terra  que  foy  descubierta  por  bcrtomes  f 
Why  should  the  Portuguese,  the  Catalans,  the  Italians,  etc.,  who 
certainly  had  no  reasons  whatever  for  preferring  the  Bretons  to  the 
English,  ascribe  to  Brittany  a  merit  alleged  to  belong  to  England  ? 

This  legend  is  so  deeply  rooted  that  we  must  be  permitted  to 
expatiate  upon  its  improbability.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  any- 
thing more  inconsistent  with  the  records  of  Spanish  maritime  his- 
tory than  the  assertion  that  Spain  ever  possessed  geographical  data 
concerning  North  America,  of  which  other  nations  knew  nothing, 
and  which  it  was  a  crime  to  disclose  in  maps.  In  those  days,  the 
Castilian  kings  (to  whom  alone  the  Indies  belonged,  Aragon  having 
no  share  in  them)  made  known  all  their  public  orders  not  v  erbally, 
but  by  written  ordinances  {cedulas)  duly  promulgated.  And  it  must 
be  said  that  no  monarchs  in  Europe  indulged  in  the  practice  more 
than  they  did.  We  still  possess  all  the  prohibitions  of  a  public 
character  and  decrees  enacted  by  them.  If  there  had  even  existed 
under  their  reign  a  law  making  it  unlawful  to  communicate  maps  of 
the  newly-discovered  regions,  we  should  certainly  find  it  in  one  at 
least  of  the  numerous  Recopilaciones  de  Leyes,  particularly  among 
their  elaborate  and  minute  clauses  relative  to  nautical  matters.' 
Now  there  is  not  a  single  one  containing  the  least  trace  of  anything 
of  the  kind.^  Nor  did  any  searcher  ever  find  in  the  records  of  the 
Casa  de  Contratacion  a    ^ngle  case  of  pilots  or  seamen,  or  mer- 


•  Besides  the  Rtcopilaciones,  see  Veytia  Linage,  Norte  de  la  Contratacion,  Seville, 
1672,  folio. 

'Dr.  Dawson  says:  "In  1511  an  edict  was  issued  forbidding  the  communication 
of  charts  to  foreigners"  (monograph  of  1894,  p.  68).  This  edict  exists  only  in  the 
learned  Canadian's  imagination. 

VOL.  IV. — 4 


H.  Harrisse 


n 


chants,  or  underwriters,  or  cartographers  having  been  molested  on 
that  account.' 

On  the  contrary,  a  number  of  examples  could  be  cited  to  prove 
how  great  was  the  immunity  regarding  the  communication  of  map^, 
even  to  foreigners.  For  instance,  the;  greatest  events  in  the  naval 
history  of  Spain  are  the  discoveries  of  Columbus  and  Magellan. 
Isabella  and  Charles  V.  well  knew  that  Venice  beheld  those  new 
seaways  as  bespeaking  the  downfall  of  her  commercial  influence  in 
the  far  East.  Still,  when  Angelo  Trivigiano  asked  of  Columbus, 
for  the  use  of  the  celebrated  Venetian  Admiral  Domenico  Malipiero, 
.''  map  of  the  newly-discovered  regions,  the  great  Genoese  at  once 
sent  his  own  copy  to  Palos,  to  have  a  perfect  and  complete  repro- 
duction made  by  a  pilot  of  the  place  :  "  fata  et  copiosa,  et  particular 
di  quanto  paese  e  stato  scoperto."^  As  to  the  all-important  strait 
discovered  by  Magellan,  it  was  openly  disclosed  and  delineated, 
with  the  exact  route,  in  maps  and  globes  supplied  by  Maximil- 
ianus  Transylvanus,  the  secretary  of  Charles  V.^  Yet,  a  priori, 
what  required  more  to  be  kept  secret  than  the  way  to  the  Spice 
Islands  ? 

Furthermore,  the  advocates  of  the  theory  that  geographical  data 
were  withheld  by  Spain,  should  first  show  in  what  respects  any  of 
the  numerous  Spanish  maps  of  the  time  which  we  possess,  and  which 
set  forth  North  American  configurations,  omit  anything  of  impor- 
tance that  was  then  known.  Peter  Martyr,  Las  Casas,  Oviedo,  the 
mass  of  letters  patent  and  judicial  inquests  concerning  the  trans- 
atlantic discoveries,  etc.,  etc.,  state  in  detail  the  objects  and  results 
of  Spanish  voyages  to  the  Indies,  as  America  was  then  called. 
Not  a  single  topographical  datum  worth  recording  can  be  pointed 
out  as  having  been  omitted  in  any  of  the  semi-official  Sevillan  maps 
which  have  reached  us.  Nor  is  there  one  which  does  not  contain 
all  that  the  Casa  de  Contratacion,  with  its  means  of  information 
could  then  know.  This  fact  will  not  be  gainsaid  by  any  one  at  all 
familiar  with  the  Spanish  archives  and  cartography.  And  as  re- 
gards the  northeast  coast,  if  those  charts  servilely  set  forth  the  de- 
lineations, and  even  the  very  nomenclature  of  the  Portuguese 
portulans,  throughout  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  it  is 


'  As  to  the  argument  of  Dr.  Dawson  upon  a  pas^e  from  a  letter  sent  from  Seville 
in  1527  by  Robert  Thome  with  a  map  to  Dr.  Lee,  see  the  Discovery  of  North  America 
by  John  Cabot,  3d  edit,  pp.  20,  21. 

"Letter  "Ex  Granata  die  21  Aug.  1501,"  in  Christophe  Colomb,  Vol.  II.,  p.  II9. 
The  original  MS.  of  those  highly  interesting  letters  was  discovered  only  five  years  ago 
in  the  library  of  Mr.  Sneyd  at  Newcastle. 

^De  Mobucis  insulis,  Coloniae,  1523,  and  Epistle  addressed  l)y  Sch6ner  to  Reymer 
von  Streytpergk,  in  Wieser's  MigalAdes-Sirasse,  Innsbruck,  l83i. 


14 


The  Outcome  of  the  Cabot  Qiiater- Centenary 


\\  ' 


because  Spain  possessed  no  other  source  of  information,  and,  con- 
sequently, she  had  nothing  wiiatevcr  to  conceal  in  that  respect.' 

In  keeping  with  all  those  legends,  is  the  following  statement  of 
Dr.  Dawson :  "  One  fact  stares  us  in  the  face  at  the  outset,  that 
w'lile  maps  were  freely  engraved  and  printed  in  all  pa»io  of  Italy, 
rii  rmany  and  France,  none  were  printed  in  Spain  "  (monograph  of 
1898,  p.  187). 

To  interpret  this  fact  as  showing  "  how  effectually  the  Council 
of  the  Indies  had  concealed  the  cartographical  records  of  their 
office,"  Dr.  Dawson  should  commence  by  proving  that  the  absence 
of  American  maps  of  Spanish  make  was  an  exception  and  that  the 
Spaniards  engraved  and  printed  maps  of  Spain  or  of  other  coun- 
tries at  that  time.  This  has  not  yet  been  shown  by  anybody.  The 
plain  reason  is  that  no  maps  of  America,  and  n.  fact  no  maps  at  all, 
were  engraved  or  printed  in  Spain  before  the  second  half  of  the  six- 
teenth century  ;  ^  simply  because  at  that  time  the  art  of  engraving 
maps,  particularly  on  copper,  did  not  yet  exist  in  that  country,  as 
was  also  the  case  in  England  and  Portugal. 

IV. 

Now  comes  the  question  of  Sebastian  Cabot's  character  as  a 
cosmographer,  a  scientist,  a  navigator  and  a  man,  which,  it  must  be 
said,  is  at  present  somewhat  damaged.  Dr.  Dawson  meets  a  mass 
of  documentary  proofs,  absolutely  authentic,  with  an  argument 
which  he  doubtless  believes  to  be  decisive,  viz.  : 

"  Ferdinand  and  Charles  V.  were  good  judges  of  men,  and  they 
trusted  Sebastian  Cabot  to  the  last"  (monograph  of  1898,  p.  182). 

Even  if  it  were  so  (for  the  word  "trusted"  is  not  generally 
synonymous  with  "  employed"),  what  of  it  ?  History  teems  with 
instances  of  famous  kings  and  great  emperors,  all  "  good  judges  of 
men,"  who  were,  nevertheless,  imposed  upon  by  charlatans  to  the 
last.  How  many  crowned  heads  and  important  perse  nages,  as  well 
as  lesser  ones,  do  we  not  see  at  all  times  and  everyw  here  deluded 
by  the  fallacious  promise  held  out  to  them  of  converting  the  baser 
metals  into  pure  gold  ?  For  Ferdinand  and  Charles  V.,  for  Henry 
VII.   and  the  advisers  of  Edward  VI.,  even  for  Queen  Mary,^  the 

'  See  Oviedo,  Historia  General  de  las  Indias,  Vol.  II.,  p.  148.  He  was  state 
chronicler  of  the  Indies  and  wrote'  on  the  subject  of  American  cartography,  shortly  after 

IS4«- 

'The  only  map  of  Spanish  make  known  to  have  been  engrav2d  in  Spain  before  lS4St 
is  a  rough  and  small  wood-cut  inserted  in  the  second  or  third  issue  of  the  1511  edition  of 
Peter  Martyr' s /«>jif  Decade.  Even  the  map  in  Medina's  Arte  de  Navegar  (1545)  is 
only  a  rough  and  badly  executed  wood-cut,  scarcely  any  better  than  Peter  Martyr's. 

3  Richard  Willes,  speaking  of  Sebastian  Cabot's  map  which  the  Earl  of  Bedford  had 
at  I  henies,  says  :     "  In  his  card  drawn  with  his  own  hand,  the  mouth  of  the  North- 


M     > 
ill     U 


H.  Harrisse 


15 


philosopi  "r's  stone  was  the  discovery  of  a  North- West  Passage  to 
Cathay  ;  and  it  was  by  making  those  monarchs  believe  that  he  posi- 
tively knew  of  the  existence  of  such  a  passage,  first  in  the  Baccalaos 
region  (15 12),  then  at  the  south  (1525),  and  finally  towards  the 
North  Pole  (1553),  that  Sebastian  Cabot  prospered  both  in  Spain 
and  in  England,  after  having  vainly  endeavored  to  deceive  the  Re- 
public of  Venice  (1523  and  1551)  by  the  same  pretence. 

"  This  man,"  again  says  Dr.  Dawson  (ironically),  "  served  some 
of  the  most  capable  princes  who  ever  sat  upon  a  throne,  and  it  re- 
mained after  350  years  for  us  to  find  him  out"  (monograph  of  1897, 
p.  184). 

Just  as  if  there  was  a  time  of  prescription  for  mistakes  and  de- 
lusions, or  as  if  the  real  estimate  of  Sebastian  Cabot's  character, 
under  every  aspect,  was  not  based  altogether  upon  authentic  docu- 
ments !  To  a  blind  admiration,  which  has  no  other  source  than 
stereotyped  averments  of  suspicious  origin  and  constantly  repeated, 
without  control  and  without  proofs,  critical  historians  oppose  Sebas- 
tian Cabot's  own  writings  and  theories.  These  are  amply  sufficient 
to  form  a  correct  opinion  of  his  professional  and  scientific  worth. 
They  have  been  recently  examined — for  the  first  time  in  three  cen- 
turies— with  care  and  impartiality.  Let  the  champions  and  admi- 
rers quand  mime  of  Sebastian  Cabot  come  forward  and  refute,  not 
with  legends,  with  empty  words  or  with  objurgations,  but  by  dint 
of  facts  and  .'igures,  if  they  can,  the  opinion  formed  by  painstaking 
critics  of  the  wily  Venetian's  value  as  a  commander  and  a  seaman,' 
as  a  pretended  discoverer  in  magnetics,^  as  an  expert  in  nautical  sci- 
ence,'' nay  as  a  cosmographer.^  Let  them  endeavor,  if  it  be  within 
their  reach,  to  trace  back  to  him  the  least  invention  or  progress  in 
maritime  devices  or  applications  ;  let  them  even  show  any  act  or  ef- 
fort on  his  part  which  ever  proved  beneficial  to  anything  or  to  any 
one  beside  himself. 

As  to  his  private  character,  it  is  worse  still. '     We  will  not 

Western  Strait  lieth  near  the  318  meridian,  between  61°  and  64°  in  elevation,  continuing 
the  same  breadth  about  ten  degrees  West,  where  it  openeth  Southerly  more  and  more." 
History  of  Travayle,  1577)  f°-  832.  According  to  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  Sebastian  even 
boasted  having  "  entered  the  same  fret  until  he  came  to  the  septentrional  latitude  of  67^ 
degrees. ' ' 

•  Documents  in  John  Cabot,  the  Discoverer  of  North  America,  pp.  227-255, 412-427  ; 
and  Drapeyron's  Rexnie  de  Giographie,  Nov.,  1897. 

'Doc...  mjohn  Cahot,  etc.,  pp.  290-295,  296-308. 

'Docs,  in  op.  cit.,  pp.  309-317,  454-456. 

♦Docs,  in  op.  cit.,  pp.  281-288,  and  Draprvron's  Revue,  1897. 

'  Every  document  which  we  now  disco^'er  co.Uinues  to  tell  against  Sebastian  Cabot's 
honesty  in  some  way  or  other.  As  a  professional  cartographer,  see  how  he  acted  toward 
the  Fuggers.  We  read  the  following  entry  in  their  books,  lately  brought  to  light :  "  Sebas- 
tian Gabato,  a  cosmographer.     Loss  suffered  on  his  account.     He  was  to  make  a  map- 


i!ll 


1 6  The  Outcome  of  the  Cabot  Quatcr-Ccntenary 

again  enlarfje  on  this  topic,  further  than  by  expressing  our  surprise 
at  tlic  sort  of  ethics  now  cniph)ycd  to  whitewash  Sebastian  Cabot. 
To  cite  a  single  example. 

In  1522,  when  Magellan's  companions  had  returned  to  Spain 
and  brought  news  of  the  discovery  of  the  southern  strait,  all  the 
technical  details  of  which  had  been  communicated  to  Sebastian 
Cabot  by  virtue  of  his  office  as  pilot  major,  he  concocted  a  plan, 
which,  had  it  been  realizable,  would  have  set  at  naught  the  results  of 
that  great  deed  and  proved  extremely  prejudicial  to  Spain.  He 
called  repeatedly  on  the  Venetian  ambassador,  proposing  to  carry 
into  effect  schemes  concerning  the  spice  trade  for  the  Signory's  bene- 
fit ;  and  finally  sent  an  agent  secretly  to  Venice  to  proffer  his  services. 
Contarini,  the  ambassador  at  Valladolid,  was  at  once  instructed  to 
confer  with  Cabot.  The  official  desjjatch  relating  the  interview  is 
extremely  dramatic  and  exhibits  in  a  vivid  light  the  character  of 
the  man. 

They  met  at  night.  The  information  that  the  Signory  heark- 
ened to  his  treacherous  pro{>osals  elated  him.  Suddenly,  he  be- 
came al.irmed,  turned  pale  and,  quaking  with  fear/  besought  the 
ambassador  never  to  divulge  the  matter,  as  otherwise  "it  would 
cost  him  his  life."  The  fact  is  that  if  Charles  V.  had  been  informed 
of  such  a  plot,  the  disloyal  pilot  major  would  soon  have  found  his 
way  to  the  gallows. 

Cabot,  to  enhance  the  reward  which  he  expected  to  receive  from 
Venice,  took  pains  to  inform  Contarini  that  Ferdinand  had  made 
him  a  captain  with  a  salary  of  50,000  maravedis,  had  subsequently 
given  him  the  office  of  pilot  major  with  an  additional  salary  of 
50,000  maravedis  and  25,000  besides  as  a  gratuity.  Then,  to 
show,  in  his  own  peculiar  way,  his  gratitude  to  Spain,  he  proposed 
to  lead  a  Venetian  fleet  to  Cathay  or  to  the  Spice  Islands  through 
a  passage  which  he  pretended  to  have  discovered  :  "  come  e  il  vero 
che  io  I'ho  ritrovato."  Is  it  not  plain  that  if  such  a  knowledge  ex- 
isted, its  disclosure  belonged,  as  of  right,  to  the  government  which 
employed  and  paid  him  and  should  never  have  been  imparted  by 
the  pilot  major  of  Spain  to  a  rival  nation  ?     E^'ery  impartial  his- 


pemonde  for  us.  He  never  did,  and  notwithstanding  repeated  eflforts  we  have  been  un- 
al)le  to  recover  the  money  we  had  paid  him  for  it,  viz. :  2250  maravedis."  "  I5S3- 
He  left  .Spain  to  go  to  England,  and  we  do  not  know  whether  he  is  still  alive.  Loss  for 
(ieorge  Stecher,  2250  mrs."  Konrad  Haebler,  Zeitschrift  der  Gesellsch.  f.  Erdkunde 
z«  Berlin,  Bd.  XXX.,  1895. 

'"Li  detti  la  lettera,  lui  la  lesse  et  legiendola  si  mosse  tutto  di  colore.  L,  poij 
letta,  stete  cussi  un  pocheto  senza  dirmi  altro  quasi  sbigot'to  et  dubio  .  .  .  ma  vi  prego  quanto 
posso  che  la  cosa  sij  secreta  perche  a  me  anderebbe  la  vita. ' '  Dispatch  of  Contarini, 
Dec.  31,  1522,  in  Rawdon  Brown's  Calendar,  Vol.  IIL,  p.  607,  seq. 


i  ; 

lii^iMMMt 


//.   Harrisse 


«7 


toiian  must  acknowlcd^je  Sebastian  Cabot  to  hj^'e  ahown  himself, 
on  that  occasion  at  least,  both  an  impostor  and  a  trp  tor. 

Not  so,  however,  with  a  certain  Italian  commcntat  jr,  who  declares 
this  course  and  repeated  acts  of  the  same  kind  on  the  part  of  Cabot 
to  have  been  perfectly  lej^Mtimate  and  admirable.  As  to  Dr.  Daw- 
son, having  in  mind  either  the  present  instance  of  treachery,  or  one 
precisely  like  it  attempted  by  Cabot  against  England  when  in  the 
employ  of  Edward  VI.,  he  meekly  observes  that  "  it  must  be  re- 
membered how  common  it  was  in  those  days  for  sailors  to  pass  from 
the  service  of  one  prince  into  that  of  another,  and  necessarily  some 
negotiations  must  have  preceded  every  such  transfer  "  (monograph 
of  1897,  p.  185).  The  less  said  about  this  explanation  the 
better. 


poij 


V. 

In  connection  with  Cabot's  quatercentenary,  the  Marquis  of 
Dufferin  and  Ava  delivered  a  patriotic  address  in  Bristol'  and  wrote 
an  elaborate  article  for  a  New  York  magazine.^  They  are  such  as 
to  prompt  the  supposition  that,  being  absorbed  by  official  duties,  his 
Lordship,  who  is  a  distinguished  man  of  letters,  not  having  time  to 
make  the  required  searches  himself,  may  have  entrusted  to  .some 
one  else  the  task  of  preparing  the  material  for  his  eloquent  Cabotian 
disquisitions.  At  all  events,  the  monograph  contains  a  number  of 
historical  novelties  and,  to  siy  the  least,  questionable  averments. 
Let  us  cite  a  few  : 

"  Cabot  successfully  negotiated  for  King  Henry  an  agreement 
with  the  King  of  Denmark  in  reference  to  matters  affecting  the 
English  trade  in  Ireland." 

This  statement  occurs  for  the  first  time  in  Anspach's  History  of 
Neivfoundland,  written  so  recently  aL  l8ig  (p.  25),  and  is  supported 
by  no  authority  whatever.  Further,  there  are  no  traces  of  anything 
of  the  kind  in  a  single  known  document,  printed  or  manuscript, 
whether  in  England  or  in  Denmark  or  in  the  Hansereccssc,  which 
should  contain  information  on  the  subject  if  the  statement  was  true. 

"  Sebastian  Cabot  was  born  in  Bristol." 

He  said  so  to  Eden,  in  his  old  age,  in  England  ;  but  it  is  one 
of  the  many  falsehoods  uttered  by  him  whenever  it  was  to  his  in- 
terest. To  be  a  grantee  of  letters  patent  under  the  Tudors,  as  well 
as  now,  it  was  necessary  to  be  of  full  age ;  that  is,  2 1  years  old. 
As  Sebastian  figures  as  grantee  in  the  letters  patent  of  March  5, 
1496,  conjointly  with  his  father  and  brothers  as  second  son,  he  was 

^London  Times,  June  27,  1897. 

*  Scribner'i  Magazine,  July,  1897,  pp.  7^-75. 


I  I 


'■I 


t8 


T/ic  Ouicome  of  the  Cabot  Quatcr  Centenary 


then  not  less  than  twenty-two,  and  came  to  life  consequently  before 
March  1474.  Now,  John  Cr'bot  was  made  a  Venetian  citizen  on 
March  28,  1476,  "  in  conseciiience  of  a  constant  residence  of  fifteen 
years  next  preceding"  in  Venice: — "per  habitationem  annoriim 
XV,  juxta  consuetudinem."  Sebastian  Cabot  therefore  was  born 
in  that  city  ;  further,  that  was  the  general  opinion  everywhere. 

When  the  great  liveries  of  London  objected  to  Sebastian  being 
put  in  command  of  an  luiglish  expedition,  they  intimated  to  the 
King  and  to  Cardinal  Wolsey,  on  March  i,  1521,  that  "  he  was  not 
naturally  born  within  the  realm  of  England."  When  he  treacher- 
ously offered  his  services  to  the  Republic  of  Venice,  his  agent  repre- 
sented to  the  Council  of  Ten,  in  September  1522,  that  Sebastian 
was  "  di  questa  citta  w  .  "  He  him.self  told  Gasparo  Contarini, 
the  Venetian  ambassa<  •  i.  -  court  of  Charles  V.,  on  December 
30,  1522,  "  To  tell   eve.  g  to  Your  Lordship,  I  was  born  in 

Venice,  but  brought  up  in  England : — Signor  Ambassator,  per 
dirve  il  tutto  io  naqui  a  Vonetia  ma  sum  nutrito  in  Ingelterra." 
Peter  Martyr,  Navagero,  Ovicdo,  Ramusio,  the  "  Mantua  Gentle- 
man," Soranzo,  all  men  of  great  veracity  and  high  character,  who 
derived  their  information  from  his  own  lips,  always  call  Sebastian 
Cabot  "  Venetiano."  How  can  any  one  presume  to  set  up  against 
this  array  of  positive  admissions  and  logical  deductions  from  au- 
thentic documents,  the  unsupported  and  solitary  statement  made  to 
Eden  by  Sebastian  that  he  was  an  Englishman  by  birth,  although 
he  represented  himself  to  the  envoy  of  Venice  so  late  as  1 551  as  a 
Venetian  born  ? 

"  Before  his  arrival  in  Bristol,  John  Cabot's  reputation  as  an  ex- 
perienced seaman  and  navigator  had  been  fully  recognized." 

This  novel  piece  of  information  rests  upon  no  evidence  whatever. 

"  The  more  probable  conjecture,  as  well  as  an  unbroken  local 
tradition,  points  to  Cape  Bonavista,  in  Newfoundland,  as  the  first 
land  seen." 

The  word  "  conjecture"  is  too  elastic  to  be  of  much  weight  in 
an  inquiry  of  this  character.  Nor  is  it,  by  far,  "  the  more  probable." 
Biddle,  Humboldt  and  Kohl  (the  latter  with  the  1544  map  before 
him)  conjectured  that  Labrador  was  the  landfall.  Dr.  Dawson  con- 
jectures that  it  is  Cape  Breton  ;  others  conjecture  that  it  must  be 
located  in  Greenland,  and  even  at  Salem  Neck.  As  to  the  "  un- 
broken local  tradition "  invoked  by  Lord  Dufiferin,  Dr.  Dawson 
justly  makes  the  following  remark  :  "  A  tradition  presupposes  set- 
tlers c  '  the  coast  to  hand  it  down.  But  there  were  no  settlers  for 
a  hundred  years  after  Cabot ;  the  Indians  all  perished,  and  when 
living,  their  relations  with  Europeans  were  relations  of  hatred  and 


//.  Harrisse 


J9 


aversion.  ICvcn  their  lan^niayc  perished  with  th;.'ni."  Hesidcs,  John 
Cabot  himself  says  that  he  did  not  see  a  sinjjle  living  soul  :  "  non  a 
visto  persona  alguna."  Who  then  could  have  started  the  alleged 
"  tradition  ?"  Jiut  let  us  not  be  too  skeptical.  This  "  unbroken 
tradition"  may  have  been  transmitted  by  the  ghosts  who  were  often 
heard  conversing  : — "  muchas  vezesoyen  hablar  spiritus,"  according 
to  the  ninth  legend  of  Cabot's  map. 

Wc  also  notice  the  following  asseveration  :  "  The  conception  of 
an  intermediate  continent  [between  Europe  and  Asia]  was  absent 
from  the  mind  of  Cabot  as  it  was  from  that  of  Columbus."  His 
Lordship  then  says  :  "  In  fact,  Cabot's  notion  was  that  of  a  north- 
west passage." 

What  for  ?  It  stands  to  reason  that  if  the  Atlantic  Ocean  bathed 
the  shores  of  Asia,  there  woukl  have  been  no  necessity  on  the  part 
of  Cabot,  or  any  one  else,  to  go  in  search  of  a  northwestern  strait 
to  reach  the  Asiatic  regions. 

"  In  1526,  Sebastian  Cabot  set  out  on  an  important  expedition, 
whose  object  was  the  exploration  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  but,  owing 
to  the  dissatisfaction  of  his  subordinates,  this  intention  was  frus- 
trated, and  Cabot  put  into  La  Plata." 

The  intention  was  frustrated  because  Sebastian  Cabot,  who 
showed  himself  a  very  poor  seaman,  and  apparently  had  never  led 
a  maritime  expedition  before,  went  headlong  into  the  "  Black  pot,'" 
contrarily  to  the  repeated  advice  of  his  pilots.  In  consequence, 
after  a  serus  of  professional  mishaps,  he  lost  his  flagship  in  the 
channel  of  St.  Catherine,  which  shipwreck  decided  the  fate  of  the 
enterprise.  On  his  return  to  Spain,  Cabot,  for  this  and  other  mis- 
demeanors, was  arrested  and  tried  by  the  Council  of  the  Indies, 
which  found  him  guilty  each  time  in  four  successive  trials,  and  sen- 
tenced him  to  four  years'  banishment  in  a  penal  colony  in  Africa. 

"  His  attempts  to  found  a  colony  did  not  prove  successful,  on 
account  of  quarrels  with  the  natives,  which  in  some  measure  owed 
their  origin  to  an  indigenous  chief  having  fallen  in  love  with  the 
wife  of  one  of  his  officers." 

This  extraordinary  love-story  is  a  fabrication  of  the  whole  cloth 
(not  by  His  Lordship,  however).  No  officer  had  his  wife  with  him  ; 
nay,  no  woman  whatever  accompanied  or  joined  Cabot's  expedition 
at  any  time. 

"  Sebastian  Cabot  threw  up  the  enterprise,  and  returning  to  Eng- 
land, made  his  permanent  home  among  us." 

Sebastian  Cabot  returned  direct  to  Spain  in  July,  1530,  where 
he  was  forbidden  to  absent  himself  from  Ocana,  a  town  of  Castile. 

'  See  the  map  in  Drapeyron's  Revue  de  Giographie  for  November,  1897. 


TT 


T 


f  I 


90 


The  Outcome  of  the  Cabot  Quatcr- Centenary 


iK 


He  did    not  return  to  England   until  eighteen  years  afterwards,  in 
1548. 

"  In  1549  Edward  the  Sixth  gave  him  the  title  of  Grand  Pilot." 

Sebastian  Cabot  never  was  grand  pilot  of  England.  The  office 
did  not  even  exist  in  the  time  of  Edward  the  Sixth — Hakluyt  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding.  It  was  created  about  six  years  after  the 
death  of  Sebastian  Cabot,  on  January  3,  1563,  by  Queen  Elizabeth, 
and  Stephen  Burrough  was  the  first  incumbent. 

"  Before  the  [second]  expedition  was  ready  John  Cabot  died, 
leaving  the  new  adventure  to  be  prosecuted  by  his  son  .  .  .  Sebas- 
tian Cabot  started  from  Bristol  in  May  1498  with  a  fleet  of  five 
vessels." 

There  is  not  a  shadow  of  evidence  that  John  Cabot  died  before 
May  1498  and  that  his  son  Sebastian  sailed  then  or  at  any  time 
from  Bristol  with  a  fleet.  Nay,  the  name  of  Sebastian  Cabot  was 
not  uttered  in  England  in  connection  with  the  voyage  until  March 
II,  1 521,  wlvn  the  wardens  of  the  great  liveries  of  London  ex- 
pres.sed  the  prevailing  opinion  on  the  subject  in  a  memorial  ad- 
dressed to  the  king,  to  Cardinal  Wolsey  and  to  the  royal  council  in 
these  words:  "  Sebastyan,  as  we  here  say,  was  neuer  in  that  land 
hymself,  all  if  he  maks  reporte  of  many  things  as  he  hath  hard 
his  father  and  other  men  speke  in  tymes  past."' 

As  to  the  alleged  death  of  John  Cabot  before  the  second  expe- 
dition sailed  out,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  redeeming  trait  in 
Lord  Dufierin's  displays  of  historic  lore  is  his  disclosure  of  a  cus- 
toms roll  showing  that  John  Cabot  received  payment  for  a  tally  of 
;^20,  either  in  London  or  in  Bristol,  between  September  i497  <t  "^ 
September  1498.  To  all  appearances  this  record  is  no  less  th.m 
the  long-sought  documentary  proof  that  John  Cabot  had  safely  re- 
turned to  England  from  his  second  voyage  in  the  autumn  of  1498, 
and  therefore  had  not  died  in  April  or  May  next,  inasmuch  as  a 
similar  payment  has  since  been  found  to  have  been  made  to  John 
Cabot  in  1490.'^ 

VI. 

■     The  Hon.  Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  believing  doubtless  that  he  was 
pleading  pro  donio  sua,  has  imagined,  in  connection  with  the  quater- 

'  F'very  new  dicument  which  comes  to  light  substantiates  the  opinion  now  enter- 
tained by  impartial  historians  on  the  suliject.  In  the  Geografia  y  Descripcion  Universal 
de  fas  Indian,  desde  1371-1574,  of  Juan  Lopez  de  Velasco,  cosmographer  and  chronicler 
of  the  Indies  under  Juan  de  Ovando  (Madrid,  1894,  p.  170),  we  read  :  "  Y  Sebastian 
CJabot  dicen  que  la  costee  hasta  67  grados  a  costa  del  rey  de  Inglaterra,  sin  haber  hecho 
nada  en  el  desciibriihiento  : — Sebastian  Gabot  says  that  he  ranged  the  coast  as  far  as  67° 
at  the  cost  of  the  King  of  England,  [yet]  without  ever  having  had  anything  to  do  with 
the  discovery." 

American  HmoRicAi.  Review  for  April  1898,  pp.  449-455. 


H.  Harrisse 


21 


centenary,    a    remarkable    theory    regarding    the    origin    ot    the 
Cabots.' 

According  to  that  ethnological  lucubration,  all  individuals  in 
Europe  called  Cabot  or  Chabot,  or  possessing  a  name  resembling 
one  or  the  other  of  these,  constitute,  so  to  speak,  a  separate  race  of 
human  beings.'"'  It  is  surprising  that  the  author  should  have 
stopped  there.  To  make  his  demonstration  more  convincing  he 
ought  to  have  added  that  as  mankind  is  divided  into  distinct  races, 
the  Caucasian,  the  Mongolian,  the  African,  the  Shemitic,  etc.,  eth- 
nographers should  add  to  the  list  the  race  just  found  out,  viz.  :  the 
Cabotian,  Gabatian  or  Chabotian  ad  libitiivi. 

This  Cabotian  or  Chabotian  species,  we  are  told,  "  probably  came 
down  in  the  wake  of  Rolf  the  Ganger  and  settled  in  the  island  of 
Jersey."  To  establish  his  postulate,  the  Hon.  Cabot  Lodge  has  in- 
geniously lighted  upon  an  ichthyological  argument  well  calculated  to 
startle  ethnographers  and  historians,  viz.: 

"  CJiabot  is  the  name  of  a  little  fish,  and  as  it  is  a  fish  caugh<  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  islands  of  Jersey,  it  was  a  very  nat  ral 
emblem." 

This  Chabot,  we  regret  to  say,  is  only  Cottus  gpbio^  a  fresh- 
water fish  which  is  extremely  common  in  all  the  streams  of  Europe 
from  Italy  to  Sweden.  It  may  therefore  have  been  also  "  a  very 
natural  emblem"  in  twenty  countries,  at  least,  and  not  in  one  ex- 
clusively, as  is,  for  instance,  the  big  salamander  in  Japan. 

To  make  his  position  stronger,  the  learned  senator  advances 
this  other  curious  piece  of  ratiocination  :  _ 

^'Chabot  means  also  a  kind  of  fish  and  a  measure,  and  seems  to 
be  peculiar  in  this  way  to  the  "sland  of  Jersey  "  (pp.  736-7). 

This  "  peculiarity  "  is  shared  with  a  number  of  other  localities  ; 
and  were  it  even  otherwise,  it  would  not  prove  anything.  Chabot 
means  a  certain  little  fish,  but  it  means  also  a  vine-branch  (Sainte- 
Palaye),  particularly  in  Berry.  It  has  likewise  the  meaning  of  a 
certain  kind  of  toy-top  (Godefroy).  At  Valogncs  and  in  Cher- 
bourg chabot  is  the  term  used  to  designate  half  a  bushel,  just  as  in 
Jersey.  And  as  there  are  in  those  countries  plenty  of  the  small 
fish  called  chabot,  the  honorable  senator  is  bound  to  admit  that  the 
Chabotians  first  came,    with  or  without  "Rolf    the  Ganger,"  not 

'  The  Home  of  the  Cabots,  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  for  May,  1897. 

'"The  Cabots  were  a  numerous  race.  We  find  them  scattered  all  over  Europe; 
the  name  varied  a  little  here  and  there ;  but  it  is  always  easily  identified."  Op.  cit.,  p. 
736. 

*By  comparing  the  plate  in  Rondelet  (Lyon,  1558,  fol.  )with  the  arms  of  the 
Chabots  in  father  Ani-.<;lme's  Histoire  Ghtialogique,  edit,  of  1726-33,  it  is  seen  that  Cot- 
tus gobio,  Lin.,  is  intended.  As  to  the  extensive  habitat  of  the  fish,  see  Desmarets  in 
Chenu,  and  Valenciennes  in  D'Orbigny. 


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2  2  The  Outcome  of  the  Cabot  Quater- Centenary 

only  to  Jersey,  but  also  to  all  countries  where  there  are  or  have 
been  human  beings  called  Chabot  and  at  the  same  time  the  little 
fish  in  question,  as  well  as  to  all  countries  in  which  vine-twigs  and 
toy-tops  called  chabots  co-exist  with  the  personal  name  of  Chabot. 
Another  ingenious  tenet  is  the  following  : 

"  The  same  name  and  the  same  arms  constitute  a  proof  of  iden- 
tity" (p.  737)- 

That  is,  as  the  Cabots  and  Chabots  all  belong  to  the  same  "  race," 
they  possess  or  should  possess  the  same  arms.  This,  the  Hon. 
Cal  ot  Lodge  has  yet  to  show.  Meanwhile,  if  the  Chabots  of  Poitou 
bear  "  d'or  a  trois  chabots  de  gueules,"  the  Chabots  of  Torrettes 
in  the  county  of  Nice,  and  those  of  Sonville  in  Gatinais  bear  "  d'azur 
a  une  etoile  d'or  chargee  d'une  tour  de  gueules."  The  Chabots  of 
Uzes  bear  "d'azur  a  un  chevron  d'or  pose  en  pal  ;"  Michel  Cabot 
of  Brittany  bore  "  d'or  a  trois  tetes  de  leopards  de  sable,"  with  no 
"chabots"  whatever  in  any  of  them,  etc.,  etc. 

Besides,  this  heraldic  theory  requires  first  of  all  the  proof  that 
the  seafaring  Cabots  bore  "d'or  a  trois  chabots  de  gueules." 
Unfortunately,  it  so  happens  that  neither  John  nor  Sebastian  is 
known  to  have  ever  possessed  arms  of  any  kind.  The  distinguished 
American  senator  fancies  that  he  can  overcome  the  difficulty  by 
attempting  to  connect  John  Cabot  and  Sebastian  Cabot  with  the 
French  Cabots  de.  la  Fare,^  who,  gratuitously,  claim  to  descend 
from  Lewis  Cabot.  But  it  has  been  demonstrated  ^  that  this  pre- 
tension is  based  entirely  upon  words  of  mouth,  uttered,  so  far  as 
documents  go,  for  the  first  time  so  recently  as  1829.'  What  is 
more,  the  assumption  is  based  upon  a  pretended  will,  which  never 
was  produced,  which  does  not  exist,  and  which  is  represented  to  have 
been  drawn  by  a  notary  of  Alais  said  to  be  called  Pierre  Petit,  al- 
though there  never  was  at  Alais  or  anywhere  else  a  notary  of  that 
name. 

As  to  the  motto  Semper  cor,  caput  Cabot,  which  the  Hon.  Cabot 
Lodge  sets  forth  as  the  device  of  Cabotians  or  Chabotians,  and  as 
an  infallible  means  of  identifying  them,  the  Cabots  de  la  Fare,  upon 
whom  he  relies  exclusively,  themselves  confess  that  it  was  not 
coined  before  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  not  in  Jersey, 
but  in  Languedoc. 

'  The  authority  for  this  statement  can  only  be  the  Armorial  de  la  Noblesse  de  Lan- 
guedoc, of  Mr.  L.  de  la  Roque,  which,  as  regaids  the  Cabots  of  that  province,  is  based 
exclusively  upon  the  ex  parte  and  uncorroborated  assertion  contained  in  the  brief  cited 
below. 

*John  Cabot  the  Discoverer  of  North  America,  pp.  382-384  •,  a  work  which  the  Hon. 
Senator  feigns  to  ignore. 

*  Cour  Royale  de  Nismes.  Plaidoyer  pour  MM.  Cabot  de  la  Fare  centre  le  Cardinal  de 
la  Fare.     Nismes,  Imprimerie  de  la  Cour  Royale,  Juillet  1829,  p.  31, 


mi, 


H.  Harrisse 


«3 


The  most  celebrated  and  oldest  Chabots  known  are  the  Chabots 
of  Poitou,  where,  according  to  Father  Anselme — the  highest  au- 
thority in  such  matters — they  have  been  known  since  1040.  The 
device  of  the  head  of  the  family  in  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, the  famous  Philippe  de  Chabot,  Admiral  de  Brion,  was  Con- 
cussiis  surgo.  Finally,  among  the  Cabots  who  are  the  object  of  the 
Quatercentenary,  the  only  one  who  possessed  a  device  was  Sebas- 
tian, and  this  device  did  not  read  Semper  cor,  caput  Cabot,  but  Spcs 
in  Deo  est. 

VII. 

To  complete  the  series  of  Cabotian  vagaries  it  would  prove  in- 
teresting to  describe  an  extraordinary  method  of  solving  the  carto- 
graphical and  philological  problems  involved  in  the  question,  and 
lately  exhibited  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Canada. ' 
But  we  must  forego  this  recreation,  to  sum  up  the  facts  relating  to 
the  Cabots  which  have  been  absolutely  ascertained,  and  the  drift  of 
opinion  concerning  the  rest. 

The  outcome  is  about  as  follows  : 

John  Cabot  was  of  Genoese  origin,  and  a  Venetian  merely  by 
adoption.     His  son  Sebastian  was  not  born  in  Bristol,  but  in  Venice 

The  American  continent  was  discovered  not  in  1494  but  in  1497, 
and  it  cannot  be  said  with  certainty  that  the  date  of  June  24  is  exact. 

The  discoverer  was  John  Cabot,  and  not  his  son  Sebastian,  who 
is  now  believed  not  to  have  been  even  on  board.  As  to  the  ship's 
name  the  "  Matthew,"  it  rests  upon  a  very  doubtful  authority. 

The  landfall  was  neither  Bonavista  Bay  nor  Cape  Breton  Island, 
so  far  as  evidence  goes.  Nor  was  it  Cape  Chidley,  which,  however, 
has  not  been  mentioned  otherwise  than  as  the  supposed  terminus  of 
the  coasting  in  1497. 

All  we  know  concerning  the  second  voyage  is  that  in  the  com- 
pany of  John  Cabot's  ship,  "  rigged  by  the  Kynges  grace  went  3 
or  4  moo  owte  of  Bristowe,  whereyn  djuers  merchauntes  as  well  of 
London  as  Bristow  aventured  goodes  .vnd  sleight  merchaundises, 
which  departed  from  the  West  countrey  ."n  the  begynnyng  of  Somer 
1498."  We  also  know  that  the  fleet  had  taken  supplies  for  one 
year,  although  it  was  expected  back  in  and  in  September  fol- 

lowing, and  that  it  encountered  a  great  s.  1  not  far  from  the  coast 
of  Ireland,  in  consequence  of  which  one  of  the  vessels  was  disabled 
and  left  behind.  Finally,  we  now  possess  documents  tending  to 
show  that  the  previsions  of  Puebla  and  Ayala  were  realized  and  that 
John  Cabot  returned  safely  to  Bristol  before  September  29,  1498. 

1  Second  Series,  1897-1898,  Vol. III.,  pp.  cxvi.-cxxxii. 


■ '   I, 


24  The  Outcome  of  the  Cabot  Quater- Centenary 


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As  to  the  rest,  whether  found  in  the  Decades  of  Peter  Martyr, 
in  the  legend  of  the  map  of  1544,  in  Ramusio,  or  in  the  1580  edi- 
tion of  Stow's  chronicle  and  the  like,  it  has  no  other  source,  direct 
or  indirect,  than  what  Sebastian  chose  to  relate  or  invent,  and  his 
assertions  stand  uncorroborated  to  this  day.  The  contradictions, 
anachronisms  and  unquestionable  mendacity  of  the  man  should  deter 
serious  historians  from  making  his  statements  a  basis  for  their  argu- 
ments, particularly  as  to  what  belongs  to  the  first  voyage,  or  what 
pertains  to  the  second  ;  considering  that  Sebastian  Cabot  never 
speaks  but  of  one  only,  mixing  perhaps  the  details  of  the  two  ex- 
peditions, and  without  our  being  able  to  separate  the  grain  from  the 
chaff,  supposing  that  it  is  not  all  chaff. 

There  is  no  evidence  of  any  kind  that  he  ever  aided  the  Mer- 
chants Adventurers  in  their  struggle  with  the  Steel  Yard,  the  down- 
fall of  which  proved  so  beneficial  to  English  manufacture.  Nor 
does  he  deserve  the  credit,  given  to  him  by  certain  modern  writers, 
of  having  initiated  the  British  trade  with  Russia.  That  important 
result  was  due  entirely  to  the  foresight,  enterprise  and  pluck  of 
Richard  Chancelor,  and  was  won  in  spite  of  the  instructions  which 
he  and  Willoughby  had  received  from  Sebastian  Cabot. 

Sebastian  Cabot  was  an  inferior  mariner,  cosmographer,  carto- 
grapher and  scientist  generally,  who  never  discovered  the  variation 
or  the  declination  of  the  compass,  as  many  people  believe,  or  the 
least  thing  in  magnetics  ;  still  less  the  means  of  finding  the  longitude 
at  sea,  by  divine  revelation,  as  he  pretended,  or  otherwise. 

Nor  is  the  astute  Italian  "  the  author  of  the  maritime  strength 
of  England,  who  opened  the  way  to  those  improvements  which 
have  rendered  the  English  so  great,  so  eminent,  so  flourishing  a 
people."  The  extensive  researches  instituted  for  the  last  fifty  years 
in  the  numerous  naval  archives  and  public  records  of  Great  Britain 
have  failed  to  bring  out  a  single  indication,  however  faint,  of  his 
ever  having  had  a  hand  in  the  maritime  progress  of  England  under 
the  Tudors. 

To  conclude  :  So  far  from  the  encomiums  lavished  by  modem 
historians  on  Sebastian  Cabot  being  true,  it  is  proved  beyond  cavil 
and  sophistry  that  he  was  only  an  unmitigated  charlatan,  a  men- 
dacious and  unfilial  boaster,  a  would-be  traitor  to  Spain,  a  would-be 
traitor  to  England. 

"  On  lie  doit  mix  morts  que  la  verite." 


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